Demountable rim.



1. H. 6a G. H.l HEEREN.

DEMOUNTABLE RIM.

APPLICATION FILED1UNEZ2, |916.

Patented Feb. 12, 1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEIoE.

JOHN' H. IEIIEEIREKN'l AND GARRY H. HEEREN, 0F ALCESTER, SOUTH DAKOTA.

DEMOUNTABLE RIM.

States, residing at ,Alcester, in-the county of Union and State of South Dakota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Demountable Rims, of whlch the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to new and useful improvements in vehicle wheels and more particularly to wheel and rim constructions for use upon motor vehicles employing pneumatic or other types of cushion tires,

.the primary object of our invention being the provision of an improved form of demountable rim and wheel.

A further object of ourinvention consists in the provision of a demountable rim which may be locked in place by fastening devices permanently secured to the felly of the wheel and which do not include any .nutswhich must be removed or other parts which, when removed, are apt to be lost or injured.

A still further object of our invention consists in constructing a wheel and demountable rim of such a character that the rim is locked upon the felly of the wheel by means of cams, the cams being arranged to clamp the rim in proper position when they are moved into locking engagement with it and to loosen the rim with respect tothe felly when they are moved out of such engagement.

Another object which we have in view is the provision of a wheel rim and felly construction of such a type that the rim, to-

ether: with a pneumatic tire and tube -may ge. removed from the wheel. without the necessity of removing either'l thel cap covering the valve sleeve or the extclj'ior y.dust cap surrounding the valve sleeve, it being necessary to remove these caps only when the tire is to be inflated.

With these and other objectsin view, our invention will be more fully described,

illustrated in the accompanying drawings,-

andthen specifically pointed out in the claims which`- are attached to and form a part of this application.

In the drawings: Figure lis a fragmentary side elevation of a wheel 4constructed in accordance with our invention; n c

Fig. 2 1s a central vertical sectional view taken transversely of the wheel;

Specification of Letters Patent.

Appncation ined June a2, 191e. serial No. 105,259.

Fig. 3 is a corresponding view taken at right angles to the section shown in Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary perspective View showing a portion of the felly and one of the locking cams and `its housing, the parts being separated to more clearly show certain details of construction;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary enlarged section corresponding to the showing in Fig. 3, but illustrating the cam in its various positions;

Fig. 6 is a section upon an enlarged scal corresponding to that shown in Fig. 2, the cam being shown in locked position;

Fig. 7 1s a view corresponding to Fig. 6, but showing the cam in partially unlocked position. i

Corresponding and like parts are..referred to in the following description and indicated in all the views of the drawings by the same reference characters.

Our improved wheel and rim structure includes a wheel having the usual hub 10 and spokes 11 and a felly 12 inwhich are secured theiouter ends of the spokes. This felly is preferably formed of wood in the usual manner and is surrounded by a steel orthe felly band I13 when the rim 1s in proper applied-position, as clearly shown in Figs. 2, d and 7 of the drawings. This -rirn may be ofthe endless clencher typeas.shown in theI drawings, or Kit may be of a type adapted for quick detachable or. straight side tires, as preferred. If not of the clencher type, the rim will be split or transversely divided and formed of resilient\ metal and applied ina manner which will be later explalned. Thelrim at one point is,.. of` course, foi-uned with anl opening 15 for the passage of the valvcsleeve 16 of the inner tube 17 which, as usual, is inclosed within a shoe or casing 18. The felly l2 and its reinforcing band' 13 are, of course, formed with alined openings for the passage of the valve sleeve 16 and threaded or otherwise anchored in the .inner end of the opening of the felly is an internally threaded sleeve 19 adapted to receive the dust cap 2O which surrounds the valve cap 21 andV outer portion of the valve sleeve 16. Because of the frusto-conical engaging surfaces of the felly band and rim, it will be apparent `that the rim may be readily slipped from the felly and if that portion of the rim opposite the valve sleeve 16 is first started from the felly, the rim may be tilted to such an extent as to permit its removal, together with the tire casing, tube and valve sleeve 16,. without necessitating the removal of ,either the dust cap 20 or valve cap 21. In order to assist in the proper positioning of the rim upon the felly, pins 22 are anchored in the rim projecting inwardly in periplierally spaced felly and its band and extending periphen ally of the felly. The outer or bottom walls of the recesses 24 are formed with transverse semi-cylindrical grooves 26 which form alined half bearings at either side of the slots 25.y Mounted within each of these re cesses is a housing 27, formed of. steel orotlier suitable metal and proportioned to entirely lill the recesses and present with the wheel felly a smooth uninterrupted surface.

The inner faces of these casings 27 are formed with longitudinal channels or chambers 28 which aline With the slots 25 and which, at one endQare partially closed to provide stop shoulders 29. The inner faces of these casings are further transversely grooved or channeled, as shown at 30, to provide with the grooves or channels 26 cylindrical bearings or rotatable pins 31 having integrally' formed angular heads 32 which project beyond the outer face of the felly7 and by means of which the pins may be turned. The felly and casing 27 are provided with suitable alined bolt or screw receiving openings so that the casings may be secured in place. The inner peripheral facef of the rim is formed at spaced intervals with peripherally extending grooves'or' channels v 33 corresponding in length and width tothe slots 25 and formed at'such portions of the rim as to register with these slots when the in one position or to project partially into the grooves or chanels 33 of the rim in another position to lock the rim against lateral movement with respect to the felly, the rim of course being held against other movement by the pins22.

More specifically, these cam members 34 are in the general shape of a disk formed eccentrically upon the pins, one face of the disk being plane surfaced, whilethe-'other is cut-away to provide an inclined wedging or cam surface 35, this cutting away being so done that the mosteccentric portion of the cam is substantially the thickest portion, while the less eccentric portionis the' thinnest, the thickest portion of the cam being substantially equal in thickness to the width of the slots 25 and of the grooves or channels 33 of the rim. Because ofthis, when the locking cams are swung to the position shown in Figs. 3 and 5-of the drawings, the thickest portions of the cams are seated in the grooves or channels 33 andl the inclined or cam faces 35 of the cams, which are the outer faces, have y'acted against the outer walls 0f the grooves orichannels 33,to force the rim inwardly with'respect to the felly to its proper position so that it is tightly clamped upon the felly. These cams are arranged to swing, when in fully locked position, to the position shown in dotted lines at A in Fig. 5 and in unlocked position, to the position shown in dotted lines at B in the saine ligure. Obviously, in the latter position, the cams do not project beyond the felly band 13, while in the former positionfthey project into thegrooves or channels 33 of the riin 14 and also engage againstthe stop shoulders 29, having been swung past dead center. Because of this, there is no tendency for the cams to turn back to inlocked position and the riin will not work oose:

Preferably, the opposite or plane'surfaced face of the cams is formed With a slight projection 36 disposed adjacent the peripheral edge of the cani and at that portion of the face opposite substantially the midportion ofj the inclined face 35 of the cam. rlhe inner side Wall of the slotted poi'- tion of the casing 27 is cut-away, as shown at 37, to receive this projection 36 during turning of the cam and the felly and itsband are correspondingly cutaway for the same purpose, as shown at 38. When the cams-are being turned from the position shown at A in Fig. 5 to the position shown at B in the same gure, these projections 36 engage the inner side walls of the grooves or? channels 33 ort the rim and act to force the rim outapplying wardly a slight extent or transversely of the felly so as to loosen it from the felly and facilitate its removal in case it becomes bound to the felly through rust or corrosion. If desired, this wall of the groove or channel 33 may be slightly cut-away adjacent, the point of engagement with the projection 36 to facilitate this action. The manner in which this projection operates through turning of the cam will release the rim, as clearly illustrated in Figs. (i and 7 Although 'the demountable rim shownin the drawings and above described is of the endless clencher type, it will-be apparent that other types of rims may be employed. For instance, split rims for quick detachable and straight side tires may be employed, the rims, under'such circumstances, being split at the point of passage of thevalve sleeve so that the pins 22 may serve as a means for anchoring the abutting ends of the rim against independent movement when the rim is in place. Asn split rims are well known, it is believed that there is not necessity for illustration.

In view of the above description, taken in connection withvthe drawings, the manner of from wheels, when constructed in accordance with ourinvention, Will be readily u nderstood and no further explanation isl necessary. We wish, however, to direct atf tention to the fact that no part of the rim fastening means is detachable so that therel is no likelihood of loss of parts and `to the further fact that the rims,.togcther with their tires and tubes, may be remove from the wheel without removing the dust and valve caps of the tire.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. In wheel construction, a.wheel body yhaving a ,frusto-conical peripheral face, a

wheel rim having an inner frusto-conical peripheral face engageable with the corresponding face of the wheel'body, the inner face of the rim being formed with peripherally extending grooves parallelto its sides, and locking devices carried by the wheel and iiemoving demountable rims wheel rim having an inner frusto-conical peripheral face engageable with the corresponding face of the wheelbody, the inner Jface of the rim being formed with peripherally extending grooves parallel to its sides, and locking devices carried by the wheel body and projectable into the grooves, said locking devices having cam faces whereby their projection into the grooves will force the rim transversely of the wheel body to bind it in place, and additional cam faces adapted during movement of the locking devices out of engagement with the rim for moving the rim transversely of the wheel body in the opposite direction to loosen it from the wheel body.

3. In wheel construction, a elly, a rim adapted to be detachably mounted about the felly and formed in its inner face with pcripherally extending spaced channels parallel to its sides, the felly being'formed with seats and slots communicating with the seats and opening through the outer face of the felly to register with. the channels, housings mounted! in the seats, pinsjournaled in the housings, locking disks separately carried by Jol-1N i-i. HEEREN. [as] GAERY H. HEEREN. [1.3.] 

